Middle Eastern Politics Headlines at 3:15 p.m. GMT
Lebanon's prime minister asks Iran to help secure a cease-fire in Israel-Hezbollah war
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CNNXi’s RSVP is a snub to Trump, but the inauguration invite is still a big deal
Imagine the scene, at noon, on January 20, on the west front of the US Capitol.
- HuffPost
Authoritarianism Expert Flags Chilling Thing That’s ‘Happening Now’ With Donald Trump
Ruth Ben-Ghiat talked about the "personalist rule" and its worrying effects.
- HuffPost
Stephen Colbert Predicts Wildly Petty Trump Act That Will Make Headlines Next
"You know that's coming," the "Late Show" host joked.
- HuffPost
Kari Lake's New Trump-Announced Gig Has Critics Fuming
Social media users slammed the role as "shameful."
- The Independent
Biden commutes 1,500 sentences and issues 39 pardons in biggest single-day act of clemency in history
‘America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,’ Biden said in a statement
- HuffPost
Critics Slam Time's 'Person Of The Year' Award For Donald Trump
Commenters also damningly recalled a brutal previous recipient of the title.
- The Independent
Elon Musk calls homelessness a ‘lie’ and ‘propaganda’ — and Trump is listening
Trump and his billionaire allies are out of touch with a crisis facing more than 600,000 Americans, advocates tell Alex Woodward
- HuffPost
GOP Never Trumper Mocks Kevin McCarthy's Trump Support To His Face
“Donald Trump lied about an election being stolen and ... you’re the one who went down and resurrected him,” Sarah Longwell told the former House speaker.
- The Independent
Don Trump Jr didn’t like Kimberly Guilfoyle’s fashion sense and thought new beau would be more of a win with dad
‘Kim is so uptight and always dresses so professionally in these kinds of dresses and high heels,’ Trump Jr. allegedly said to Guilfoyle, according to a source
- The Hill
Opinion - US would face a 4-way axis in confrontation with China
Even those who wish to focus solely on a possible conflict with China should recognize that Beijing has allies who almost certainly would come to its aid.
- The Daily Beast
Time Undercuts Trump Interview With 2,300-Word Fact Check
Time magazine contested Donald Trump’s claims about undocumented immigrants, a link between vaccines and autism, and gender-transition regret in a sprawling fact-check published alongside its Person of the Year interview. The president-elect was awarded the magazine’s Person of the Year title—which has gone to influential figures as disparate as Taylor Swift and Joseph Stalin—for the second time, having also won it in 2016. Trump proudly attended the award ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange
- The Hill
Trump team rejects Bragg’s ‘Dark Dream Scenario’ for hush money case
President-elect Trump’s attorneys condemned Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) suggested alternatives to dismissing Trump’s hush money criminal conviction, going as far to call one of them “unhinged” and “absurd” Friday. It remains unclear if New York Judge Juan Merchan will consider the new filing, as he previously wrote he would only accept one written…
- The Hill
Opinion - Democrats should stop saving the Republicans from themselves
If Republicans want to drive the government into a shutdown or default — or refuse to fund disaster aid — let them.
- CNN
Assad exhibited little of the tackiness of Iraq’s Saddam. But his rule was just as brutal
Slender shoulders, a limp handshake and soft-spoken lisp. Those were the most vivid memories from my meeting with Bashar al Assad.
- The Hill
Senate Democrats livid with exiting Sinema, Manchin: ‘Pathetic’
Senate Democrats were livid after Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), two longtime members of their caucus, voted Wednesday to block President Biden’s nominee, Lauren McFerran, to serve another five-year term on the National Labor Relations Board. Senate Democrats blasted their votes to sink Biden’s nominee and hand Republicans a major victory as…
- HuffPost
Donald Trump Offers Vague Answer On Melania's White House Plans
The president-elect also praised his wife's role in the 2024 campaign during an interview with Time magazine.
- NewsWire
‘Fatal errors’ in Dutton’s nuclear plan
The Energy Minister has given a brutal assessment of Peter Dutton’s plan to take Australia’s power grid nuclear.
- The Hill
NATO chief warns of ‘huge risk’ in Ukraine talks without Putin
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte expressed concern about the idea of conducting peace negotiations in the nearly three-year-long Russia-Ukraine war without Russian President Vladimir Putin “at the table,” calling the move “risky.” “It is crucial that whenever there is a deal that it is a good deal, with all the elements in there,” Rutte said during…
- BBC
Bloody siege ends Myanmar army control of western border
Insurgents seized Myanmar's border with Bangladesh in one of the bloodiest battles of the civil war.
- CNN
Battered corpses show the horrors of life and death under Syria’s Assad
The 35 or so bodies were found in a military hospital in the Syrian capital of Damascus, days after the regime fell. They are believed to be among the last victims of Assad.